"Wormtail?"
Sirius Black peered around the empty abode, searching for some clue as to where his friend had disappeared to. The small house was calm, quiet, and suspiciously empty.
A cold fear gripped his chest. Had something happened to Peter? He barely ever left his home... let alone remove most of his belongings. Had he been discovered? Forced to run?
If the Death Eaters knew that Peter was secret keeper... they were sure to find him. It would be very easy to extract the information they needed. Dumbledore, the Potters, and himself had been counting on Peter going unsuspected, being the weak little thing that he was. They had very meagre plans for what happened if the enemy figured it out...
If Wormtail wanted to hide, he would be difficult to find. That much was calming. Still, it also meant that Sirius wouldn't be able to find him.
That left only one option. He would go pay a visit to his beloved friends.
The motorcycle's engine roared savagely in his ears, the cold dampness of cloud soaking his hair and clothes. God, Sirius loved riding. The freedom of it eased the knot of worry in his chest, even just a little. Light was shining through the cloud and Sirius knew he would emerge into open air within a few moments.
What presented itself to him made his blood run cold. Warm lights blazed from every house in the frozen little town of Godric's Hollow, each home a beacon of comfort in the unforgiving winter frost. All but one.
Sirius revved his engine and soared down into the driveway of the darkened Potter's home, relying on his dis-illusion charm to keep him hidden from prying muggle eyes.
The door wobbled, splintered on its hinges and the window of the living room was blasted in. Sirius tore into the house, terror pumping through his veins like fire, sharpening his senses. Please, be alright, he silently begged whoever may be listening.
He skidded into the living room, stopping so suddenly he grabbed the door frame to keep from toppling.
There, slumped over the back of the couch, was James Potter as limp and lifeless as a rag doll.
Sirius let out a soft gasp, the fire in his veins turned to ice. He stumbled over to his best friend, grasping his shoulder in a far less gentle manner than he would have otherwise. The lack of response sent horror and a terrible grief to shock his very bones.
"Prongs?" he stuttered feebly, shaking his friend, gazing into the empty face, the dark, unseeing eyes. "James?" A baby's gurgling cry echoed from the upstairs bedrooms and tore Sirius back into lucidity.
Harry.
He broke into a clumsy sprint once more, fueled by the soft whimpering of that baby boy. He found the child's bedroom, almost tripping over the small, familiar toy broomstick laying discarded in the corridor. Once more, the threshold of the room served to support his weight as what he saw weakened his legs.
Lily lay sprawled at the base of the small cot, her wild red hair spread around her like a halo of flame, her mouth agape in a silent, eternal plea.
Harry's crying was growing softer, more desperate, and Sirius responded with all the instinct of the Godfather within him. He rushed to the side of the child's cot, pulling the bleeding, gurgling infant into his arms and drawing his wand. He immediately began to work at the gushing slash upon the baby's forehead, but nothing he tried seem to stem the flow. Murmuring soothing words, the effect likely lost to the anguish in his voice, Sirius leaned down once more into the crib, pulling a soft blanket out and pressing it firmly to little Harry's head, stemming the flow of blood.
With Harry safe in his arms, Sirius slid down the cot and onto the floor. Lily's emerald eyes stared, unseeing, at a spot on the ceiling. Little Harry began to cry in earnest and Sirius pressed the boy's face to his shoulder, shielding him from the sight of his dead mother.
And Sirius' cries joined Harry's, the tormented howl of the man whom had lost his family.
...
It must have been only a few moments before another joined him in the house, but to Sirius, it felt like an eternity. Lost, trapped under the eyes of a guarding mother and held prisoner by the wailing of an innocent child, he began to crumble in on himself, his howls devolving to whimpers and desperate sobs. Yet, when the purposeful, heavy footsteps up the hall reached his ears, he only grasped the child tighter, dragging himself to his feet and pulling his wand on the intruder.
The enormous form filled the entire doorway and had to squeeze himself through it to get in, the newcomer's face riddled with terror to rival that of Sirius. Hagrid tensed at the sight of Sirius, a flash of something dangerous flitting across his features, but gone the second he recognized the best friend of the victims.
"Sirius, 's 'Arry okay?"
"I don't know. I.. Wormtail must have..." Realization dawned on Sirius and, along with it, a tidal wave of fury suffocated his thoughts.Peter. He must have told. It was the only way they could have found out.
"Dumbledore says Pe'er was with You-Know-Who fer a while now," Hagrid spoke rigidly, his voice cracking with every syllable and leaning over as if to extract Harry from Sirius.
Sirius let him, too consumed in his own shock to argue. This whole time... But, I had been certain... Remus...
His arm flung out, seeking to hit something, to destroy something that no one would miss, to rid the world of some useless object as if it could be exchanged for the lives of James and Lily without the loss and the heartbreak. His elbow collided with a glass baby-bottle and shattered it, sending glass shards into the walls and carpet. But this did nothing. Hell, he would give himself up to bring them back, he would gladly take his own life to atone for his mistakes. All this time, he had thought Remus to be the spy, gone so far as to withhold the Potter's location from him. He was wrong, it was Peter. And now Lily and James were dead, Harry was parentless, Sirius stood soaked in the blood of a child and his own grief-stricken tears.
As the smash rang into silence, Hagrid's heaving sobs were now the only sound in the still night, as if nature itself had resigned in respect to the loss of such a great witch and wizard. Even Harry had fallen silent, and Sirius glanced over to see that the child was watching Hagrid with intense curiosity, apparently unable to decide what to make of the monstrously sized man.
Sirius knew what he must do. He owed this much to James, to Lily, to Harry. Slowly, he reached out to peel the boy out of Hagrid's shuddering arms, but was surprised when the half-giant pulled away.
"'E's got ta go ta his Aunt's place, Dumbledore's orders," Hagrid explained, stroking the tufty hair on the boy's head.
The boiling mess in his stomach rumbled further and Sirius felt ready to explode. Dumbledore had no right to decide the boy's fate. Sirius was his godfather and that meant that the boy was his charge now. "Don't be ridiculous," growled Sirius, reaching again, with more determination, to grab Harry. Yet Hagrid avoided him once more. "I'm his godfather, I have to care for him!"
"I'm sorry, Sirius!" Hagrid spluttered, heaving the boy out of reach. "But Dumbledore says 'e has ta go, so 'e has ta-" He froze, eyes transfixed on the wand that was now pointed between his eyes. "Sirius, don' do it."
"Give me the boy, Hagrid," Sirius snarled, pointing his wand as threateningly as he could manage. He needed to do this. He had been the one to plant the suggestion of Peter as secret-keeper. He had be the one who shut Remus away. He had been the one who failed to get here in time to protect his friends. Now he was the one that would clean up the mess and make sure that Harry was safe.
"I can'!" Hagrid rumbled, sounding both worried and resolute.
"Stupefy!"
The curse hit Hagrid square between the eyebrows and sent him stumbling backwards a few steps, but his giant blood protected him for the most part. But that falter was all Sirius needed, he lunged at Hagrid with the ferocity of a dog, whose form he spent so much time in, protecting its pup. He snatched a now crying Harry from his arms and sped to the door, slamming it shut behind him and muttering an incantation that would strengthen the wood. Once it was complete, he murmured soothing words to Harry, trying to silence the frightened wails.
The gleam of polished wood caught his eye.
Hagrid thumped into the door, calling for Sirius.
Sirius snatched the toy broomstick off the ground and he ran.